Modern Natural Products
Terminalia Belerica ( Bahera ) [Mumbai]A large deciduous tree 10-20 m high. Leaves alternate coriaccoi-is 10-20 by 7-15 cm, broad elliptic. Flowers pale greenishc yellow, with an offensive odour, in axillary spikes. Fruits are ovoid gray. The bark is bluish gray with many fine cracks. Characteristics and Constituents : Fruits contain a green fixed oil, saponin, tannins, a resitious residue and three amorphous and hygroscopic glycosi....
Terminalia Chebula ( Harde ) [Mumbai]It is a moderate or large deciduous tree, attaining 25-30 m in height. Leaf buds, branches and youngest leaves are covered with soft, shining rust coloured hairs. Leaves 7-20 cm,glabrous, opposite, elliptic-oblong, rounded,acute apex. Flowers bisexual, white or yellow with an offensive smell. Fruit is a drupe, pendulous, 2-4 cm long, obovoid from a broad base, glabrous, sribbed, when dry, yellowis....
Acacia catechu [Mumbai]Description : It is a moderate sized tree, 9-12 m high, with a dark coloured bark and rough young shoots dark brown or purple, glabrous. Leaves bi-pinnate, 10-15 cm long main rhachis pubescent, with glands between many of the pairs of pinnae. Characteristics and Constituents : Catechu contains 2-12 % catechins, 25-33 % phlobatannin, 20-30 % gummy matter, quercitrin and quercitin. The acacia tre....
Acacia Concinna [Mumbai]A common, prickly, scandent shrub, occuring in tropical jungles throughout India, especially in the Deccan. Leaves bipinnate; flowers in yellow, globose, anxillary heads; pods brown, wrinkled and notched when dry; seeds 6-10 in a pod. Characteristics and Constituents : The bark contains saponin, which on hydrolysis yields lupeol, (-spinasterol and acacic acid lactone. The sugars identified are....
Achyranthes Aspera Linn [Mumbai]It is a small herb, 30 to 90 cm high. The leaves are opposite, 2 to 12 cm long, rounded at the apex and elliptic, obovate. Petiole is short. The flowers are small, greenish white in colour. Characteristics and Constituents : The whole plant contains traces of basic substances e.g. betaine. Achyranthine has been isolated from the plant. The seeds have a saponin which contains oleanolic acid, gl....
Aconitum Heterophyllum Wall [Mumbai]Roots biennial, paired, tuberous, daughter tuber cylindrical to cylindrical, oblong or conic, long, thick, bearing few root fibres which are friable, bark very thin. Stem erect, simple or branched, high, glabrous below internodes short. Leaves are mainly heteromorphous, glabrous, Inflorescence a slender raceme, leafy panicle or in alpine specimens reduced to a few flowers, crispo-pubescent. Sepals....
Acorus Calamus Rhizome [Mumbai]A semi-aquatic, perennial, aromatic herb with creeping rhizomes, growing wild and also cultivated throughout India at an altitude of 2,200 m in the Himalayas. Rhizome horizontal, jointed, somewhat vertically compressed, spongy within, 1.25-2.5 cm in thickness, pale to dark brown or ocassionally orange-brown in colour, leaves grass-like or sword shaped, long and slender flowers small, yellow-green,....
Adhatoda Vasica [Mumbai]minutely pubescent and broadly lanceolate. The inflorescence is dense, short pedunculate, bractate and spike terminal. The corolla is large and white with lower lip streaked purple. The fruit is a 4-seeded small capsule. Characteristics and Constituents : The leaves of the plant contain an essential oil and alkaloids vasicine, N-oxides of vasicine, vasicinone, deoxyvasicine and maiontone. The r....
Adhatoda Zeylanica [Mumbai]Leaves are simple, opposite, petiolate, ex-stipulate, 10-20 cm long and 3-10 cm broad, lanceolate to oval - lanceolate, crenate, margin, a tapering base and an acuminate apex, light green in colour, 8-10 pairs of lateral veins which are reticulate. Petioles 2-8 cm long, exstipulate, glabrescent. Odour characteristic and taste bitter. Actions and Uses : The bronchodilatiry and expectorant proper....
Adrak [Mumbai]A herbaceous rhizornatous perennial, up to 90 cm in height when fully grown. The herb develops several lateral shoots in clumps. Leazies are 15-30 cm long and 2-3 cm broad, with sheathiiig bases, the blade gradually tapering to a point. The rhizomes are aromatic, thick lobed pale yellow, bearing simple alternate dlistichous narrow, oblong lanceolate leaves. Characteristics and Constituents : Gi....
Aegle Marmelos Correa [Mumbai]Bilva is a medium to fairly large sized deciduous and glabrous tree with auxiliary spines and usually tri- foliate leaves. The fruit is round. The root-bark, stem bark and other parts of the plant have been studied in detail for macroscopic, microscopic details and cell contents. The distinguishing features between the root and stem bark have been described. The root bark powder has a violet fluor....
Allium Cepa [Mumbai]A perennial or biennial herb up to 1.2 m (4 ft) high with hollou leaves and flowering stem, and a globe-like fleshy bulb. Characteristics and Constituents : A pale yellow or brownish - yellow mobile liquid with strong, unpleasant, sulphur-aceous odour with a lachrymatory (tear producing) effect. Actions and Uses : Anthelmintic, antimicrobial, antirheumatic, antiseptic, antisclerotic, antisp....
Allium Sativum [Mumbai]It is a small plant. The leaves are green, slender, flat and elongated. The stem is smooth and solid. The bulbs are composed of several bulbils (cloves), encased in white or pink skin of the parent bulb. The inflorescence is an umbel initially enclosed in a spathe. Characteristics and Constituents : The strong smelling juice of the bulbs contain a mixture of aliphatic mono and polysulphides. T....
Aloe Barbadensis [Mumbai]Leaves large, succulent, suulate, sessile, 20-50 cm long and 5-10 cm wide. Apex in the form of a sharp and acute spine. Both the surfaces are strongly cuticularized. Dried leaf juice dark chocolate brown to black in colour and of irregular masses. Odour characteristic; taste very bitter. Actions and Uses : Cathartic action of the drug, limited to large intestine, is attributed to anthraquinone ....
Aloe Indica Royle [Mumbai]Aloe plants are characterized by stemless large, thick, fleshy leaves, lance shaped, sharp apex and a spiny margin. The colour of leaves varies from species to species - gray to bright green, chocolate brown to black. Characteristics and Constituents : The three main pentoside constituents of the plant are barbaloin, isobarbaloin and ?-barbaloin. The other minor constituents isolated are volati....
Alpinia Galanga [Mumbai]A perennial herb, root stalk tuberous, aromatic, leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute margins, white sheath long ligule rounded. Flowers in May, flowered panicle, white bracts ovate. Fruit orange red. Characteristics and Constituents : From the green rhizome, a pale yellow oil with a pleasant odour is obtained on distillation. This oil contains 48 per cent of methyl cinnamate, 20 to 30 per cent of c....
Alstonia Scholaris [Mumbai]A scholaris is widely grown in Northern India, Bengal and in the South of India. It is a tall evergreen with oblong dark-green leaves. The bark is gray and rough and exudes a bitter milky sap. The greenish -white flowers are arranged in cymes. Characteristics and Constituents : The genus Alstonia (species 30) is rich in alkaloids: ditamine, echitamine and echitenine are the principal alkaloids ....
Amla [Mumbai]A medium to large deciduous tree with small leaves, which are closely set in pinnate passion. Leaves simple, a hundred or more on each branchlets in a symmetrically distichous manner, linear oblong or linear elliptic, slightly recurved, entire, obtuse of rounded at base, apex sub-acute or apiculate, glabrous, light green above, paler and at times puberulous beneath. The fruit is nearly spherical o....
Andrographis Paniculata [Mumbai]This annual grows to a height of ? -1 meter with a tap root. Branching is profuse, leaves are green, lanceolate, 3-7 x 1-2.3 cm glabrous with slightly undulate margin, its apex is acuminate with a tapering base. Flowers are small and solitary; Corolla is whitish or light pink in colour, hairy. Fruit is a capsule, linear, oblong and acute at both ends, seeds are numerous. Characteristics and Con....
